1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a hand apparatus for dispensing a pasty filler mass and to a container for such a hand apparatus.
2. Related Technology
In medical technology it is known to fill, and therefore to repair, cavities in an animal or human body part or in a prosthesis with a filler material, e.g. after material removing working of a defect. For this, curable filler masses are used, which are brought into the cavity in a pasty or liquid condition and then harden. Thereby, a distinction is to be made between a direct filling and an indirect filling. In a direct filling only the filler mass is brought into the cavity, so that it fills the cavity. In an indirect filling a preferably customized inlay placement part is put in place in the cavity with the filler mass, so that the latter connects the placement part with the wall of the cavity. Here, not only is a mechanical anchorage of the filler mass in the cavity important, but also a sealed placement of the filler mass in the cavity, to avoid gaps through which contaminants and germs, which in the case of a body tissue could lead to inflammation and which could destroy the preparation, could penetrate.
A typical application of an above-described preparation, in which there arise particular requirements regarding the hand apparatus and the handling thereof, is tooth preparation in the mouth of a patient or a training head for teaching purposes. With such a dental-medical treatment case there arise particular requirements regarding the structural size of the handpiece, since the mouth of a patient is relatively small, and therefore under consideration of a required freedom of view a structural size as small as possible is to be striven for.
In DE 100 01 513 A1 there are described a method of filling a tooth filler mass, based on synthetic resin, into a cavity of a tooth, and a hand apparatus for carrying out such a method, wherein during filling the filler mass and a nozzle of the hand apparatus are acted upon with sound, particular with ultrasound, and the hand apparatus has means which convey the filler mass from a supply container of the nozzle. This known method and hand apparatus made it possible to use filler masses with a relatively high content of fillers, which increase the toughness of the filler mass and thereby reduce shrinkage and the danger of gap formation upon hardening. With this known hand apparatus a lever arrangement is provided for conveying the filler mass, which upon its manual actuation at the same time switches on an ultrasound source, in particular a piezo-oscillator, which is arranged in the rearward region of the hand apparatus body. The filler mass is arranged in a cartridge which can be put in place and fixed in a section arranged in the forward end region of the hand apparatus body. Upon manual actuation of the lever arrangement the filler mass is conveyed out by an advancing punch connected to the lever arrangement and acting on the rearward end of the cartridge.
From EP 0 480 472 B1 there can be understood a method for the production of dental masses which contain a binder or such a high proportion of filler materials, that the dental mass itself is not usable for the intended purpose due to its high viscosity, whereby however one mixes the filler materials with the binder under the action of an oscillation in the frequency range 20 Hz to 50 kHz with an amplitude of 1 μm to 5 μm, through which the viscosity is reduced to a usable value.